Removing Names From House Deeds.

[Bramleyboy]

In 1985 my brother and two sisters and i, inherited from our parents, a house in Wales. In 1999 my brother married a Philippino lady and had a baby girl.
He needed the money and had no interest in the property, so my two sisters and I bought him out with a quarter share of the house and he signed a document saying he had no further claim on the property.
In 2001 my sister, a divorced alcoholic took her own life and died intestate.
In 2003 my brother died of cancer. We have no knowledge whatsoever of the whereabouts of my brother's wife. We now have the deeds of the house with two deceased names on it. I am 72 and my remaining sister is 61 and I feel we should tidy things up and have the names removed. Question is: how do we go about removing the names from the deeds; is it something we can do?; do we need a solicitor, if so what does it entail and is it likely to be expensive?

[woofgang]

Not a legal eagle but....The actual part of removing the names of deceased people is easy and doesn’t need a solicitor. If you can prove that you and your sisters bought your brother out then that one should be easy too. It doesn’t matter whether or not he is dead provided you have got the bill of sale or equivalent for his share of the property. Your deceased sister may cause a bit more of a problem as her share of the house would have formed a part of her estate so whoever is entitled to a share of the estate might have an entitlement to a share of the house. You will need to make sure that you and your sister do actually own the house.

[Peter Pedant]

straightforward I would have thought
I wouldnt try to do it yourself

I would go to a licensed conveyancer as this is a straightforward names on documents ( actually names in computers but what the hell ) thing

as far as I can see no one is disputing title

[ my siblings and I inherited my mothers house
and found title had not been touched since my father bought it in 1962 - and the licensed conveyancers just took it in their stride]

[woofgang]

PP I did it myself when I lost DH. Nice man at the Land Registry said all you need is proof of title for what you have bought or inherited. There’s one form for taking off dead people and one form for taking off live ones.

[tamborine]

DIY. Fill in forms, enclose proof of inheritance, death certs etc. Send fee.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/change-the-register-ap1

[Garaman]

If you have a 'joint tenant' agreement then the property automatically passes on to the other owners when one dies. (It couldn't be passed on to anyone else in a will.) So in your case you wouldn't even need to prove that you bought out your brother, just that he has died, and it should be straightforward. On the other hand if you have a 'tenants in common' agreement you could find that your brother's wife or daughter owns a ninth share that she inherited from your brother, who inherited if from your sister. (The fact that your brother had previously signed the letter saying that he had no further claim on the property wouldn't affect his right to receive inheritance in my view.) That said I have no idea how far back one can claim.

(Just a view as I am not qualified.)

[woofgang]

Garaman the deceased brother sold his share for money...provided that is provable then his descendants can have no claim as you can’t leave what you don’t own....its the deceased sister’s descendants, if any, who might have a claim.

[Garaman]

woofgang, as I said I am no authority so you may be right. However to me he sold his quarter share, but then may have gained a ninth share, being a third of his sister's share, when his sister died, depending on the type of agreement they had. If they had a tenants in common agreement then the sister's share of the house was just part of her estate and her brother would be entitled to his share assuming there wasn't a spouse or children. If they had a joint tenant agreement there could be no such claim.

[Barmaid]

I think Garaman is on the money.

I think it unlikely to have been joint tenants. Even so, that tenancy was severed when brother sold to BB. On that basis, when sister died in 2001 (assuming no kids), BB, brother and sis will have inherited a third of her estate each which will more than likely have included the property.

Its not going to be quite so simple as having names removed from the Deeds. There are some fairly easy steps you can take but you are going to need someone who knows what they are doing to unravel it all. I would suggest a solicitor who is a member of STEP or a barrister on a direct access basis who specialises in that area.

[Bramleyboy]

Thank you all for your advice. Bramley